District Attorney Larry Krasner is set to announce the conviction and sentencing of multiple suspects in the 2021 murder of a teen ice dancer who dreamed of competing in the Olympics.
On Saturday, Nov. 6, 2021, around 3:45 pm, Joshua Anthony Soto, 18, was shot once in the chest along East Cornwall Street near Kensington Avenue. He died minutes later at the scene.
A second 18-year-old victim was shot at least twice and rushed to the hospital in critical condition, Philadelphia police said.
More than two years after Soto’s murder, Krasner is set to announce the conviction and sentencing of “several defendants” in his death. The announcement will take place Thursday at 11:30 am and will be streamed live in the video at the top of this article.
Soto’s family members are expected to be in attendance.
Soto was a high school graduate from Philadelphia’s Juniata Park neighborhood. His family says he was just as passionate about ice dancing as he was about the people he encountered.
“Joshua… Joshua was a light,” his mother Damaris Perez-Soto told NBC10 back in 2021.
Growing up in the city’s Juniata Park section, ice dancing was an opportunity to represent his country on a global stage, Soto’s family said. As a national junior ice dancer, Soto’s goal was to be a Team USA Olympian. He last competed in a junior ice dance national figure skating championship series and was preparing for his next big competition.
“He was one who looked at barriers and said, ‘you know what, it may be a challenge for me and someone who looks like me,'” Soto’s father Jesus Soto said, “but he didn’t allow that to stop him. “
Soto teamed up with Mila Guberman on the ice, competing in the Intermediate US Figure Skating ranks. His skating partner remembered him as “the best skating partner and best friend I could’ve ever asked for.”
“You lit up my life, as well as everyone else’s and I’m so mad, sad, and confused at the world for taking you so soon,” Guberman wrote on Instagram.
His family was in disbelief that Soto was killed.
“I just became numb,” his mother said. “I screamed. I cried. I just couldn’t believe it.”
There are additional resources for people or communities that have endured gun violence in Philadelphia. More information can be found here.
